Great Art Thou, O Lord!: The Life and Preaching of St. Gabriel (Urgebadze), Confessor and Fool for Christ

Copyrighted Material

Published with the blessing of His Holiness

I L I A II

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

Great Art Thou, O Lord!

The Life and Preaching of St. Gabriel (Urgebadze), Confessor and Fool for Christ

Copyright © 2023 by St. Innocent Press. All Rights Reserved.

Chernorizov, Kirill

Translated by Priest Nathan K. Williams

Recommended for publication by the Publishing

Council of the Russian Orthodox Church

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

For information about this title or to order other books and/or electronic media, contact the publisher:

St. Innocent Press

P.O. Box 257, Milford, Ohio 45150

www.stinnocentpress.com

ISBNs:

978-0-9786543-8-2 (softcover)

978-0-9786543-1-3 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023905997

Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication data

Chernorizov, Kirill.

Great Art Thou, O Lord! The Life and Preaching of St. Gabriel (Urgebadze), Confessor and Fool for Christ/ Kirill Chernorizov; translated by Priest Nathan K. Williams.

First Edition. | Milford, Ohio: St. Innocent Press, 2023. | Translated from from Великий еси Господи . . . Жизнь и проповедь святого Гавриила Ургебадзе, исповедника и юродивого, Indrik: Moscow, 2016, (IS R16-606-0272).

LCCN: 2023905997 (print) | ISBN: 978-0-9786543-8-2 (paperback) | ISBN: 978-0-9786543-1-3 (ebook)

Christian Denominations | Orthodox Christian Church | Saints. Hagiology

LCC BX378.5 | DDC 204CHE

Troparion of St. Gabriel, Tone 4

As the Master Christ hid His divinity, clothing it in humanity, and, unseen by us, brought into being His ineffable glory, likewise didst thou hide thy glory by means of foolishness, and by the wonder of thy confession wast shown forth as a shepherd of souls; O venerable Father Gabriel, entreat Christ God to have mercy on our souls.

Icon by Guram and Alexander Mgebrishvili

Contents

Compiler’s Introduction to the Russian Edition

Publisher’s Note

Father Gabriel

Family

Mama

His Brother

Spiritual Family

A Portrait of Father Gabriel

Holy Foolishness

Wine

Preaching

The Church That Father Gabriel Built

Reverence for Icons

Lessons in Humility

Clairvoyance

Death and Glorification

The Last Will and Testament of Father Gabriel

Various Accounts, Photos, and Stories

Magnification of St. Gabriel

Photos

Lenin’s Portrait

Two Stories from Abbess Mariam (Mikeladze)

Accounts of Archpriest Archil Mindiashvili

A Barbecue on a Friday

Rebuking the Sinful Woman

The Sailor’s Story

Account of Tamuna Ioseliani

Father Gabriel’s Jacket

Account of Archpriest Zurab Tskhovrebadze

Account of Nino Kandelaki

Account of Nun Thecla (Sikharulidze)

Account of Zviad Oniani

Account of Bishop Joseph (Kikvadze), Metropolitan of Shemokmedi

Account of Bishop Nicholas (Pachuashvili), Metropolitan of Akhalkalaki and Kumurdoi

The Story of Archbishop Alexander (Ishchein) of Baku and Azerbaijan

The Teachings of Father Gabriel

On Love

On Good Works

On Humility

On Faith

On Prayer

On Repentance

On Paradise

On Communion and Confession

On the Passions

On Judging Others

On Monks and Nuns

On the Sign of the Cross

On Promises

On How to Learn the Will of God

On Adam

On Georgia

On the Antichrist

On Temptations

On Death and Fear

On Hell

On the Baptismal Cross

On How to Pray for Enemies

On Death

On Various Topics

A Short Biography of Father Gabriel

Interview Authors

A Prayer of St. Gabriel

O Lord, I beseech Thee,

hearken unto us from Heaven and turn Thy face toward us.

Have mercy on us and grant us Thy peace

that we may fulfill Thy commandments and renounce evil.

Teach us, O Lord, to pray to Thee and to fulfill Thy Holy Law

so that our hearts be devoted to Thee

and that we live according to Thy Holy Law.

Amen!

Kindness will open to you the doors of paradise,

humility will lead you into it,

and love will enable you to behold God.

Only in true love can God be seen,

because God is Love.

St. Gabriel (Urgebadze)

Compiler’s Introduction

to the Russian Edition

In Georgia, St. Gabriel (Urgebadze) is quite widely venerated. Universally, in fact. In Russian, likewise, his name is becoming increasingly well known. Accounts of this unusual ascetic of twentieth-century Orthodoxy, a man of our own time, continue to appear in print and other media. Perhaps the most important factor in the increasing veneration of St. Gabriel is the testimony of those who were personally acquainted with him.

In 2015, we conducted a series of interviews for the purpose of collecting material for this book. There was no blueprint, no set format, no preferences expressed by the editor or publisher—only those vibrant conversations and recollections that dictated the contents of this book. Thus, its true authors are first and foremost the storytellers, the people who shared their personal interactions with him.

From Father Gabriel’s sister, Julieta, we heard reminiscences about his childhood. Invaluable strokes on his life’s canvas were added by his childhood friend, Archimandrite Joachim (Asatiani), who witnessed the famous incident when Father Gabriel set fire to the portrait of Lenin. Bishops Daniel (Datuashvili), Nicholas (Pachuashvili), and Seraphim (Jojua) were still laymen when they first met Father Gabriel at Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi. Bishop Daniel was still a hieromonk serving at Samtavro Convent when Father Gabriel came to live there permanently. At the time, Bishop Joseph (Kikvadze) was rector of the neighboring Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta. Abbesses Mariam (Mikeladze) and Theodora (Makhviladze) and the nuns Thecla (Sikharulidze) and Eudocia (Dadunashvili) came to Samtavro Convent separately, first as workers, then as novices, and finally were tonsured nuns, a process in which Father Gabriel took an active part. Zurab Tskhovrebadze and Archil Mindiashvili, archpriests today but laymen at the time, and the laypeople Zviad Oniani, Tamuna Ioseliani, and Nino Kandelaki were parishioners of Samtavro Convent, where they were under the spiritual care of Father Gabriel and witnessed his life. An unexpected addition to this book was the story of Bishop Alexander (Ishchein), whose spiritual path, as we chanced to learn, had likewise been affected by Father Gabriel.

This book may be termed a portrait, or perhaps a sketch for a portrait of Father Gabriel. The word portrait in this instance would be more appropriate than icon, just as the biography of a holy man frequently differs markedly from his hagiography. Nevertheless, we hope that this portrait may lead at least a few readers to that living experience of interaction with Father Gabriel that may be acquired in prayer to him and in the Cup of the Eucharist through union with our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose glory abides always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Finally, we borrowed the title of this book from a fragment of a phrase in the Order of the Great Blessing of Water, which could frequently be heard from the lips of Father Gabriel, confessor and fool for Christ: Great art Thou, O Lord, and wondrous are Thy works, and there is no word which sufficeth to hymn Thy wonders.

—Kirill Chernorizov and the editorial staff of Indrik

Publisher’s Note

There is a special comfort to the faithful to learn about contemporary saints. We may lament the state of our society and fret over the world in which our children will mature, but the glorious manifestation of sanctification—of which St. Gabriel is a most remarkable example—reminds us that the Lord is still very active in our fallen world and that He hears the prayers of those who approach Him with sincerity. In short, it gives us great hope to know that such a glorious saint reposed just a few years ago (1995).

We are grateful to His Holiness Patriarch Ilia II for his blessing and suggestion to translate this work. May God reward Kyrill Chernorizov for his diligent labors in compiling these many interviews, each of which contains a brilliant gem from the life of St. Gabriel and which together create a radiant portrait of sanctity. It was his talent which translated many of the original interviews from Georgian to Russian. I am delighted that my seminary classmate, Fr. Nathan Williams, agreed to translate the Russian original. His skill and comfort in both languages makes this a faithful rendering of both the content and the style of the original.

The color spread of photos features an icon by Protodeacon Paul Drozdowski, another friend from Holy Trinity Seminary. We are grateful to Guram & Alexander Mgebrishvili for permission to reproduce several of their icons. The photos throughout the book come from Kyrill Chernorizov, as well as the many wonderful sites and public forums dedicated to the memory of St. Gabriel, primary of which is the site monkgabriel.ge. This website is also the source of the troparion and prayer to St. Gabriel, as well as the prayer he composed and his last will and testament.

In preparing this text, the responsibility of publishing the first English-language book about St. Gabriel has been deeply felt. My family and I were privileged to make a pilgrimage in the summer of 2022 to seek St. Gabriel’s blessing for this project. His presence is palpable, both at his relics and in the chapel he built, as well as in the lives of numerous Georgians whom we met. In order that fellow English speakers readily make the acquaintance of this great saint, a text which is fluid and conforms to English syntax and spelling has been prioritized; numerous footnotes have been added to aid the reader.

God willing, the life of this Confessor and Fool for Christ of our days shines through on each page. As the Psalmist tells us, Wondrous is God in His Saints! (Psalms 67:36), and the life of St. Gabriel only confirms the words of King David, yet again. May all who read this book acquire an appreciation for this truth and turn to this spiritual giant for aid in their own lives.

Venerable Father Gabriel, pray to God for us!

—Archpriest Daniel Marshall, publisher

Family

No one knows our mother’s background. They say a very wealthy family was once passing through Tiflis.¹ A baby was born to them, and they could not take her with them. It so happened that the woman who became our grandmother had been longing to adopt a child, and as soon as my mother was born, she took her in and raised her.

Grandmother loved our mother very, very much. She tried to give her everything, looking after her health and putting her through preparatory school. She was already quite elderly when she began raising Mama, and so she made a point of marrying her off young so that she would be provided for and not be left all alone at the age of thirteen or fourteen.

Women used to marry quite young in those days. A suitor was found for Mama, who proved to be a very congenial person—Vasily Urgebadze. He became very fond of Varvarushka,² my mother. At the time, she had no idea what married life was, or what it meant to marry, since she had almost no contact with other families. She knew what a mother was, but as for family life, how a husband and wife live together—of this she knew nothing. Later, of course, she matured. So at the age of fourteen she married; at fifteen years old, she gave birth to Emma, my eldest sister. When she was seventeen, a second child, my elder brother Mikhail, was born, and then came Vasily [the future St. Gabriel—ed.], when she was nineteen. When he was born, they named him Goderji. However, when Mama was twenty years old and Goderji was still nursing, Mama’s husband, Vasily Urgebadze, was murdered. This was in 1931, a time when food was scarce, so she and my grandmother raised the children together.

Mama was quite beautiful, truth be told—not tall, with snow-white skin and sky-blue eyes. Never have I have met anyone with eyes as blue as hers. She was offered a job in theater, but morals were different in those days, and Grandmother told my mother, You know, Varya, you mustn’t go into theater. You have small children. Morally speaking you ought not to work in the theater.

—Julieta Jigityan-Variani

The identity of the parents of Father Gabriel’s mother, Varvara, remains unknown. It was in the days of the revolution. Her parents said they were having serious problems; they left Varvara with an Armenian family, giving them a considerable sum of money to provide for her. They said that if they were able to come back, they would reclaim the child, but they did not return. A woman from the Armenian family that took in Varvara made extra income by taking care of children; at one time she had served as nurse for the children of princes. When Father Gabriel’s father, Vasily, was murdered, his mother raised the three children alone. It was very hard for her; those were difficult times. Then, when she could no longer provide for the children alone, she married an Armenian named Jigityan.

—Zviad Oniani

Mama found work selling Lagidze Water soft drinks on Rustaveli Avenue. Then one day someone said to her, You know, there is a man—an intelligent, handsome fellow. Would you consider marrying him? The children had to be provided for, as they were still small. Some had even proposed that they be placed in an orphanage, but Mama and Grandmother refused. And so it was that our mother met my father when she was about twenty-six years old. He was already fifty-nine at the time, but he was very respectable and handsome, a skilled specialist in economics, had graduated preparatory school, and was from a well-to-do family. His